A former Rangers Football Club of Enugu State player, Kenneth Abana, 73, has suffered a stroke and currently on life support due to alleged neglect by the state governments in the South-East region.
His former colleagues, who confirmed this, have also alleged that they all had been neglected by the South-East governors since retirement from active football.
Speaking on behalf of the players, the pioneer goalkeeper of Old Rangers International football club and former National goalkeeper of the then Green Eagles, Emmanuel Okala said that, though one or two former governors in the South-East came to their aid, the serving governors are yet to attend to their plight of health challenges.
“It’s left for you journalist to do the crying for us under these circumstances because it has not been easy for us as old men.
“We know they may be packaging something for us but at the moment, they should please start doing something before we all die,” Okala said.
Abana was rushed to Eldorado hospital in Awka, Anambra State, by his family members when his health deteriorated into partial stroke on Thursday.
It would be recalled that Abana had been bedridden for the past two year as a result of acute arthritis and confined to wheelchair.
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The veteran footballer’s condition is believed to critical as he could not speak as of now.
His wife, Gertrude Abana, noted that the incident happened in the morning after he had his meal and taken his medicine.
She said “Abana was initially rushed to General Hospital, Enugwu-Ukwu but the doctors on duty could not manage him until they referred us to a specialist hospital.”
Uche Okafor, a neurosurgeon at the hospital confirmed that Abana was down with a partial stroke.
